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Hitler’s army thundered through Europe from 1939 to 1945 and brought needless death and destruction to the continent. What was it like to serve in this army? What was it like to conduct one of the bloodiest wars in history? What was it like to occupy half of Europe and yet to suffer total defeat?

This five-part portrait provides long-awaited answers to questions such as these and sheds light on the Wehrmacht’s complex bonds of loyalty, conscience and honour. It is a thought-provoking story of an army’s evolution from defense troops to military force to exterminating power.

Report: The Wehrmacht

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Anonymous

I can hardly watch this doc and listen to these former Wehrmacht sons of bitches who allowed themselves to be manipulated and unleash such death and misery across Europe. The families they destroyed, the children they bayoneted the Jews they shot in the head with no more regard than if they were swatting a fly. Don’t allow yourselves to be fooled nor forget that these regular looking elderly men marched across Europe under the influence of methamphetamine, locked people inside churches and synagogues and set the buildings on fire while they laughed outside and went looking for some more Devil’s work to do. Don’t forget that almost an entire generation of American and Allied men (mostly kids) had to leave their jobs and families, sail across the Atlantic while the Wolf Packs waited to send them to an icy, watery grave and put their lives on the line to stop these assholes otherwise we’d be speaking German right now. Don’t be fooled and don’t forget what they would have done to us had they won.

Xulius_caesar

the really messed up thing is that the treaty of versailles at the end of ww1 put germany in economoic and military shackles. thats the situation and circumstance that allowed Hitler to rise to power and do what he and the rest of the 3rd reich did. In a roundabout way, we brought ww2 upon ourselves with that treaty. I’m not talking about the holocaust…that was seperate and a lot of europeans didn’t even KNOW about the death camps until aftewards. The holocaust was the most evil aspect of the 3rd reich in my opinion and should be studied as the seperate entity that it was.

Anonymous

Calm down. They were just doing as they were told. You’d have done the same thing.

stalin

The way these guys where manipulated is in essence not really that much different to how we are made to view “terrorists” albeit the jews were more benign than the Terrorists, but how where they to know that when they were raised to believe they were threatening the future of Germany.

Anonymous

Don’t forget that according to the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram experiment this was only to be expected, and majority of people, probably even you, are capable of doing very bad things given the right circumstances. Your self-righteous outrage only reveals your ignorance.

Herry Rigoroso

Well I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, it’s well known to any with introductory knowledge in psychology or sociology that humans in generally can be manipulated into doing things like these, and even feel righteous while doing it. Who knows, maybe the US might one day be guilty of invading other peoples homes and torturing or committing atrocities of their own all the while thinking they are in the right… LOL jks, already happened.

Besides, ideology aside (and you really should make a distinction between wehrmercht and SS) you can not deny these were some of the most badass soldiers in human history, they took on the world, and almost won.

vespatesta

a great book on this subject is titled “Hitler’s Willing Executioners.” it focuses on the death marches at the end of the war (when there was essentially no Nazi administration left), the orden police (mostly men unfit for combat who did the extermination of jews) and the so called work camps (which were really death camps). the point of the book is that there were few innocents in nazi germany, pretty much everybody was on board with the agenda.

Charlie 63

Very true. Well written. People tend to forget these cold hard facts.

Frank

Yes, while some things that you say are correct, you should consider the comments below and be mindful of being to self-righteous next time. The US, as it commonly accepted nowadays, as also committed some crimes of its own against humanity. I remember seeing a video someone sent to me of American troops shooting Iraqi civilians for fun. We are all capable of such evil, even you.

Muto

And many people around the world can’t listen to American sons of bitches who are killing around the world in the name of democracy and it mostly happens that democracy is needed in countries full of oil. You people are totally brain washed just like Germans were and you think that it’s alright to bomb some country to bring democracy. It’s laughable and pathetic. Nazis lied to their people using brain washing propaganda. USA use it too nowadays:”Hey, they are developing weapons for mass destruction, let’s bomb them” but in reality there were no any weapons for mass destruction. UN have NEVER find anything in Iraq. USA kept their citizens in fear that some peasant from Iraq can launch nuclear bomb to USA and it’s unbelievable how can someone be so fucking retarded to believe in that. As the time passes, USA will have the same amount of blood on their hands just like Nazis had. The whole point is that USA government always used very strong propaganda to keep their citizens in fear and to justify their actions with that, starting with Russians/communism. That propaganda of fear lasts for decades, communists, China, Cuba, terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and so on. USA is spreading a lot of hate around the planet and just keep making enemies. That won’t end up well, it never ends up well, live by the sword, die by the sword. USA should find another way of doing economics instead of making wars to feed their war machine.

Georges Hulmin

Very interesting. What a great nation. Thanks for the doc!

Gabriel

ha thats what you want me to think

Anonymous

I give you the Eurofags.

twat

The Germans of the 10s – 40s were (almost) the last in a long line of imperialists. War was once a noble pastime, raping and pillaging par for the course. When sacking a town or city it was usual to kill everyone inside. The Mongols for example sacked many a city on their rampage through europe. Anyone heard of the crusades? Church sanctioned atrocities. Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, all mass murderers. When the British invaded Australia they attempted to exterminate the indiginous peoples, oops, can’t mention that. Esitmates of up to 4 million Aboriginies wiped out through disese, neglect, and murder. Hitler was nothing new and will not be the last.

Randall

Too disgusting…too brutal and inhuman, what the Germans did to those inocent jewish people as well as most of those they destroyed… What kind of monster was Hitler?…What kind of foolish monsters supported him?…German!!!…

Unkel Jack

Example of how crazy ppl can be and give up their humanity.
There is an element of the beast in us all, and these men showed it.
What’s scary is similar shit is still going on in the world.

charles nixon

“Man’s inhumanity to man” , a theme in human existance. My thoughts wonder to th slave cabins of America. How the white men fathered moulatto chirdlen( with Black women) and later sold these children for profit. These same white men are the first to hang a black man for ( what they say was rape) when white women decided to have a black man in her bed.
The fear of the black man’s penis is a white man thing. Its all in tthe white Man’s mind. It was fact in 1919 and is true today and will be true in 2019,. Remember Wilmington, North Carolina 1898, Alex Manly and Rebecca Felton.

Narles Chixson

On the contrary, I am a white man, and I’m not afraid of black penises. In fact, I love black… no wait ! Damn You Charles Nixon and Your Reverse Psychology !